impact mitigation and management practitioner … · 2020-01-16 · human rights impact assessment...

ROAD-TESTING VERSION

IMPACT MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTITIONER SUPPLEMENT

HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENT GUIDANCE AND TOOLBOX

HUM AN R I GHTS IM PACT ASSESSM ENT G UID ANCE AND TOO LBOX

PHASE 4 : I MPACT M IT I G AT ION AND M ANAGEME N T P RACTIT IO NER SUPPL EME NT

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CONTENTS 1.1 Engagement and capacity building for effective impact

management 3

1.2 Monitoring 5

1.3 Example HRIA findings and mitigation measures 13

In Phase 4: Impact Mitigation and Management you can find an overview of the role of impact management in HRIA.

In this Practitioner Supplement you will find example questions and resources to assist you with impact mitigation, management and the monitoring process in practice, focusing on:

Engagement and capacity building for effective impact management

Monitoring

Example HRIA findings and mitigation measures

This Practitioner Supplement is a part of the Road-testing version of the Human Rights Impact Assessment Guidance and Toolbox.

You can find the full version here: http://www.humanrights.dk/business/human-rights-impact-assessment-guidance-toolbox

PHASE 4: IMPACT MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT

IMPACT MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTITIONER SUPPLEMENT

http://www.humanrights.dk/business/human-rights-impact-assessment-guidance-toolbox-material/phase-4-impact-mitigation

http://www.humanrights.dk/business/human-rights-impact-assessment-guidance-toolbox

http://www.humanrights.dk/business/human-rights-impact-assessment-guidance-toolbox



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1.1 ENGAGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING FOR EFFECTIVE IMPACT MANAGEMENT

Effective impact management will require the involvement of rights-holders and other stakeholders in the design and implementation of impact mitigation measures to ensure that these are appropriate and effective. This also extends to ensuring engagement and capacity building for human rights impact management internally within the company.

In order for rights-holders to meaningfully participate in impact management, whether through participatory monitoring or other various means, it is important that they have the capacities needed to meaningfully participate. In some contexts this will be the case, however, in other scenarios the company may need to engage in capacity building initiatives to facilitate meaningful rights-holder participation in impact management. Box 1, below, provides an example of capacity building strategies for rights-holder participation in impact assessment and management. For further details on participatory monitoring see Section 1.2, below.

Box 1: Example of rights-holder capacity building to participate in impact assessment and management

The Mary River HRIA was conducted on behalf of IsumaTV, an Inuit media company that engaged in the public hearing process related to the development of the Mary River mine in Nunavut, Canada. In particular, the HRIA focussed on the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and has presented its findings in oral Inuktitut (the native language of the Inuit) audio and video clips, which have been made available through a dedicated website.1 This process has enabled the local Inuit community members to access the HRIA findings on their own terms and thereby engage and provide input throughout the assessment.

Subsequent to the HRIA, the assessment team has undertaken monitoring activities in the affected communities, including a series of ‘inform and consult’ radio shows, which also have been made available online.2

As well as engaging rights-holders, depending on the impacts identified it may be useful and/or necessary for the company to engage with relevant third parties in impact management, i.e. local government, joint-venture partners, other operators in the area, contractors, suppliers, NGOs and CSOs, etc. In particular when addressing impacts that the company contributes to, such as cumulative impacts, or impacts to which the company is linked through business

1 Website can be found here http://www.isuma.tv/DID/HumanRights/About

2 Available at http://www.isuma.tv/Qikiqtani-internet-tv



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relationships, addressing the impacts will require engaging the other third parties involved and exercising leverage.

Table A, below, provides some example engagement opportunities. For further examples of working with third parties and exercising leverage see Phase 4: Impact Mitigation and Management.

Table A: Examples of engaging third parties in impact management

Third party Examples of engagement opportunities

Contractors Involving contractors in health and safety trainings.

Joint Venture Partner

Ensuring that human rights issues are on the meeting agendas of JV meetings.

Having a joint development group in place with other operators in the geographic region that shares baseline data and coordinates community development activities across operations.

Government Engaging the government on joining the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and on training security forces on human rights in security.

Developing a local content plan that outlines ways in which to increase local employment; engaging with the government in order to align with their goals regarding developing the local workforce.

Multilateral organisations

Engaging with the local International Labour Organisation office on the implementation of labour rights training for workers and local community members.

Industry sector

Engaging with other companies in the industry that have experienced similar challenges in order to improve standards through collective action via an industry body or standard.

Non-government and civil society organisations

Contracting a local organisation with expertise in women’s rights to implement a capacity development program on women’s participation in impact assessment and other engagement processes.

In the termination of a business project, engaging with NGOs, development agencies and CSOs in order to assist with the





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Table A: Examples of engaging third parties in impact management

Third party Examples of engagement opportunities

transition for the local community. They may assist with identifying issues as well as coordinating community consultations.

Within a company, a HRIA can help to create awareness and build capacity on human rights and human rights impact management. Some areas to consider with the view to enhancing this learning and commitment for impact management may include:

Have mitigation measures been assigned across the business to the relevant areas?

Are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in place?

Is there senior management support?

Is there a cross-functional working group to monitor the implementation of the HRIA action plan and its effectiveness?

An additional component to building human rights capacity within the company is to ensure that the HRIA team engages and secures buy-in and commitment from key company representatives early during the assessment process, such as in the initial planning of the HRIA and the drafting of the terms of reference. The HRIA Team should of course maintain its independence; however, engaging and securing commitments from company staff will ultimately support with ongoing human rights impact management, such as the implementation of the impact management plan as well as the integration of human rights across the company’s operations.

1.2 MONITORING

Monitoring is essential in assessing the effectiveness and progress of a company’s actions to address the impacts that have been identified, as well as to capture any unanticipated impacts. Monitoring of the effectiveness of impact mitigation and management needs to include engagement with rights-holders and other stakeholders; participatory monitory is one possible approach to ensuring such engagement.

Table B, below, provides some key questions that practitioners may reflect on when developing a monitoring plan.



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Table B: Questions to consider when developing a monitoring plan

Question Description

Why are you monitoring?

This clarifies the purpose of the monitoring plan. For example, is the monitoring being conducted to address the public’s uncertainties of the business project? Is it to gather data periodically? Did the assessment find a potential impact that needs ongoing monitoring in order to ensure that the project is not causing an actual human rights impact?

What will be monitored?

A monitoring plan can be set-up to measure several potential or actual impacts. For example, it may be set-up to monitor internal processes and/or staff, third party staff or external impacts related to the community. Some examples to monitor relating to community impacts may include:

Monitor the number of arrests and/or convictions from cases brought on by the company

Monitor the water quality of a nearby lake, which is also being used by the company

Monitor land disputes Monitor environmental degradation Monitor the increase of health cases i.e. project

related or other depending of the vulnerabilities in the community

Monitor the effectiveness of a company – community benefits agreement

How will it be monitored?

Consider the type of study being undertaken, and the necessary data that needs to be gathered in order to successfully monitor. Will it be primarily qualitative data? Is it more complex, which may require specialised equipment and technical capacity? Or is it highly complex, where the data would need to be assessed in a laboratory, etc.?

Who will participate and what will be their level of

In participatory monitoring both professionals with a high level of expertise and community members may participate in monitoring. Depending on what is being monitored, the level of complexity will determine the given participatory approach as well as the necessary capacity building that may be



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participation? needed. Methods of participation may vary, they may include:3

Collection of data

Data interpretation

Communicating results

How often will it be monitored?

The frequency and duration of monitoring should be noted. Will it be monitored weekly, monthly, quarterly, biannually, etc.? Also noting the frequency of collection of data as well as the sample size necessary to ensure an effective study.

Who is responsible for the monitoring?

This looks to the governance structure,4 the actual roles, procedures and organisation for the management of the monitoring plan. While the company can take the lead in monitoring, it may want to look to other options when considering issues relating to capacity, credibility, community trust and independence, such as:

Involving an NGO, CSO, university, or church Involving a relevant government agency Taking a multi-stakeholder approach

How will the data be used?

The data collected may be used for many purposes, for example:

Mitigating potential or actual human rights impacts Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements Ensuring a human rights-based approach to

monitoring Creating awareness and educating Addressing public perceptions on the business project

3 For a further description of each see Table C: Examples of participatory monitoring approaches

in water monitoring. 4 Detailed governance approaches are outlined in the Office of the Compliance

Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and Members of the World Bank Group (2008), Participatory Water Monitoring: A Guide for Preventing and Managing Conflict, Washington: CAO.



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Building capacity of the local community and company

How will the company respond to monitoring findings?

The plan should include structured responses for different findings from the monitoring. For example, if severe human rights impacts are found these should be escalated to senior management immediately, if specific mitigation measures are found to be effective this should be recorded for future learning on continual improvement, if specific mitigation measures are found to be ineffective the monitoring plan should require this to be brought to the attention of relevant staff so that new mitigation measures can be promptly designed and implemented and so forth.

How will results be presented to stakeholders?

Given the public and inclusive nature of participatory monitoring any results should also be made public. This means that all data should be available and accessible to those who participated in the monitoring and other interested stakeholders; and that the monitoring design, which describes the methods, the data collecting process, the process of interpreting the data, and actual findings as well as conclusions, should be available. Communication about monitoring processes and findings should also be responsive to the local context, i.e. in relevant local languages and through modes of communication used in local communities.

Funding5 Like governance, the funding of a specific monitoring program is another important area to consider. Funding should be adequate in order to ensure effectiveness. The dilemma is that while the company is often expected to pay for the costs involved in monitoring, this funding may also bring issues of credibility, lack of independence and transparency by outside organisations. Having in place a multi-stakeholder or independent governance structure, or review panel, that is involved in administering the funding for monitoring activities

5 Detailed funding approaches are outlined in the Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman

(CAO) for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and Members of the World Bank Group (2008), Participatory Water Monitoring: A Guide for Preventing and Managing Conflict, Washington: CAO.



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may go some way to addressing this issue.

Source: Adapted from the Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and Members of the World Bank Group (2008), Participatory Water Monitoring: A Guide for Preventing and Managing Conflict, Washington: CAO

Participation in monitoring can occur at many different levels. For example, participation may include community members being present when company personnel take samples and perform other technical monitoring tasks, or a more active participatory program might have community members interpret the data gathered as well as communicate results to others in the community.6

Challenges with participatory monitoring should of course also be considered. In some cases, it may not be feasible and/or appropriate to have participatory monitoring with the community. Challenges might include the level of technical expertise required or the degree of co-ordination with government agencies and officials necessary.7

Table C, below, elaborates on different participatory monitoring approaches and describes some example cases. Box 2, directly below, presents a good example of the role of monitoring in the Fair Food Program.8

Box 2: The Fair Food Program case

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) Fair Food Program (FFP) is a “unique partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensures humane wages and working conditions for the workers who pick fruits and vegetables on participating farms.”9 The program has been designed, monitored, and enforced by the workers through standards outlined in the Fair Food Code of Conduct. The program has received much recognition due to its unique model, and more specifically because of its approach to monitoring and the enforcement of standards set out in the Code.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Fair Foods Council and Fair Food Program (2014), Fair Food Program 2014 Annual Report.

Accessed on January 2016 from http://fairfoodstandards.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/14SOTP-Web.pdf 9 Fair Food Program. About the Fair Food Program. Accessed on January 2016 from

http://www.fairfoodprogram.org/



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How does it work?

Four key components to FFP’s effectiveness:

Worker-to-worker education, which is conducted by CIW that takes place on the farm and is paid. The curriculum is designed to inform workers of their rights and responsibilities under the Code, as well as to provide them with information on redress in the event of a breach of their rights.

Complaint hotline, FFP is administered by the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), which is a separate non-profit organisation whose purpose is to have oversight of the program. Some of their duties include administering and answering the 24-hour worker complaint hotline.

Audits, also conducted by FFSC, look to ensure the farmers’ compliance with the Code and enforcing corrective action plans.

Enforcement through market consequences, those farmers/growers who do not meet the Code lose business through the CIW’s Fair Food Agreements with Participating Buyers. These Participating Buyers, which include buyers such as Walmart and McDonalds, have committed to pay the Fair Food Premium over the regular price of tomatoes in order to improve workers’ wages.

This program has said to represent the concept of Worker-driven Social Responsibility, which puts the participation of the workers at the centre in the monitoring of their human rights, enforcement is through the premium, and retail brands make a binding commitment to support that enforcement with their choice of farmers they purchase from.

Source: Fair Food Program, About the Fair Food Program, Accessed on January 2016 from http://www.fairfoodprogram.org/; Fair Foods Council and Fair Food Program (2014), Fair Food Program 2014 Annual Report, Accessed on January 2016 from http://fairfoodstandards.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/14SOTP-Web.pdf.



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Table C: Examples of participatory monitoring approaches in water monitoring

Approach Description Benefits Challenges Appropriateness/Case Examples

Community stream watch

Community members are trained to monitor their waterway in order to ensure that no adverse impacts occur to their sources of water. This involves:

Observation

Simple samplings and data collections.

Simple

Inclusive

Training provides capacity building

Low cost (relies on volunteers from community)

Minimal input from external technical experts

Training presents difficulties

Limited quality of data

Reliability of volunteers

Appropriate for when the purpose is to be educational and provide awareness, and where the project is not controversial.

Example: Agua Para Siempre (The Water Forever Project: Mitigating Against Pollution) is a community-based volunteer program where individuals from the community gather field data in order to monitor water quality impacts that result from nearby mining operations.

Observer Community members join the project’s representatives, i.e. company, during their monitoring work.

Limited training

Participants have the opportunity to see the project, which may change negative

Lacks independence

Controlled mainly by the company, consultant, government, etc.

Community does

Appropriate for when the purpose is to be educational and provide awareness, development of a baseline, issue is highly technical, and not controversial.

Examples: Las Bambas CMP; Marlin AMAC; and Mesa de Diálogo Tintaya.



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Involves data collection and informing the public on the fieldwork.

perceptions

not participate in data interpretation

Monitoring committee

This is a cooperative effort among those (e.g. NGOs, CSOs, government) that already have a monitoring program, and looks to integrate them by creating a joint fact finding system.

Transparent

Independent

Lessens the likelihood of having competing data and interpretation among those monitoring

Builds trust

Complex to implement in practice

Requires technical expert(s)

Potential for conflict among actors over interpretation of data

Appropriate for when the purpose is to investigate an issue, address public uncertainties, or evaluate the effectiveness of improvement; where the issue is controversial or conflict-prone.

Example: Mesa de Diálogo y Consenso CAO-Cajamarca managed the participatory monitoring program for the impacts related to the Yanacocha Mine in Peru. The program included a full-time scientist, several part-time technical experts, and focused on extensive community engagement and overall communication. Samples where collected monthly and analysed in a laboratory. The program also worked with other monitoring programs and created a database with water quality data.

Independent technical expert

Technical expert contracted to conduct the monitoring and who remains

May provide technical credibility

May be perceived as

May not be familiar with local context: culture, languages, constraints, etc.

Appropriate for when the purpose is to investigate an issue, address public uncertainties, or evaluate the effectiveness of improvement; issue is technically complex; high controversy and there’s low trust.



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1.3 EXAMPLE HRIA FINDINGS AND MITIGATION MEASURES

The following section provides examples of HRIA findings and potential mitigation measures by issue area.

Table D: Examples of findings and mitigation measures

Issue Area HRIA Findings Recommendations/Mitigation Measures

Land Compensation for land is awarded to the male head of a family, who then distributes it within the family. The company has limited visibility on how the compensation and the benefits are distributed within families.

The company should seek to achieve greater transparency and monitoring of how land compensation and benefits are distributed within the communities. Particular emphasis should be placed on how women are impacted by economic resettlement and ensuring they benefit adequately from compensation. This could entail reserving particular benefits for women.

Security Individuals attempting theft or break-ins to company property are from time to time

The company should establish an approach for enquiring with authorities as to the status of cases concerning suspects apprehended

independent of all parties. Includes many field visits and engages with all stakeholders.

more independent than others

Cost, time and gaining legitimacy among civil society

Issue of to whom the experts are accountable

Example: Mesa de Diálogo Tintaya

Source: Examples have been adapted from: Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (2008), Participatory Water Monitoring: A Guide for Preventing and Managing Conflict, Washington: CAO.



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apprehended by private security forces. In more serious cases of theft or physical attack, the suspect is handed over to the police. There is a significant probability that suspects are subjected to human rights breaches in the host-country legal system.

by company security guards.

The approach may involve collaboration with local human rights organisations and entities, such as the local office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; the Red Cross; the national human rights institution or a civil society organisation working with human rights in the justice sector.

Security The host-country is a not a signatory to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR), but public security forces are stationed to protect company assets.

Work towards establishing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the public security forces that defines the terms of the security arrangements and states the company’s expectation that security be provided in line with the VPHSHR, international human rights principles for law enforcement and use of force.

Work with NGOs and CSOs to ensure industry/multi-stakeholder collaboration to promote the host-country’s membership of the VPSHR.

Procurement Procurement compliance procedures are not formalised regarding a range of labour standards (e.g. working hours, discrimination, freedom of association, collective bargaining, etc.).

Revise the procurement procedures to include compliance with the specific labour standards (such as including relevant clauses in contracts, screening or monitoring of suppliers/contractors, or training of suppliers/contractors).

Community Influx of people/workers creates price inflation in relation to property, food, increased crime, etc., which leads to a lower standard of living for

Identify and target population groups most affected by adverse boomtown effects through the provision of housing, health services, sanitation, safe drinking water, etc.



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certain low income groups. Consider targeted social investment programs to prevent and mitigate boomtown effects. For example: micro-enterprise development, potentially aligned to the company’s procurement needs. Programs should be in line with social development projects, for example in agriculture and similar projects to create sustainable jobs.

Community The company has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with local communities that governs decision-making regarding community investment priorities and spending. However, the company meets primarily with male local elites to discuss community investment under the MoU.

Consider ways to ensure that a more diverse group of community members understand the content of the MoU and participate in decision-making regarding community investment. This could involve publishing the main points of the MoU on the company’s website as well as distributing this information through town hall meetings, radio and other channels.

Hire female Community Liaison Officers in order to strengthen communication with female community members.

A NOTE ON THIS ROAD-TESTING VERSION

As HRIA of business projects and activities is an emerging practice, this Road-testing version of the HRIA Guidance and Toolbox seeks to provide guidance to those working with HRIA, but also to contribute to a platform for dialogue about HRIA practice and standards in the business and human rights field. In this context, we welcome comments from stakeholders on the Guidance and Toolbox and on experiences with using it.

Please send comments, questions and suggestions to: Nora Götzmann [email protected] and Tulika Bansal [email protected] Authors: Nora Götzmann, Tulika Bansal, Elin Wrzoncki, Cathrine Poulsen-Hansen, Jacqueline Tedaldi and Roya Høvsgaard

© 2016 The Danish Institute for Human Rights Denmark’s National Human Rights Institution Wilders Plads 8K DK-1403 Copenhagen K Phone +45 3269 8888 www.humanrights.dk

This publication, or parts of it, may be reproduced if author and source are quoted.www.menneskeret.dk/tilgaengelighed

mailto:[email protected]

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impact mitigation and management practitioner … · 2020-01-16 · human rights impact assessment...

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